Crest teams roll to victories at Burns

Published: Friday, December 7, 2012 at 10:07 PM.

LAWNDALE – After a near miss Tuesday night against Shelby, many wondered if the Crest boys might have a bit of a letdown taking the floor Friday night in their next outing.

With the energy of a packed gym at Burns Friday night, that solved that question. The Chargers came out hot early and rolled to a 74-40 non-conference win over the host Bulldogs.

That made it a sweep following the Crest girls’ 65-37 romp in the opener.

Boys Game

Crest knocked in a few from long range against the Bulldogs’ zone defensive look and made it a 1-2 punch with quick passes to the inside for a few layups as well in building a 20-10 first-quarter lead.

With Burns struggling to find any consistent offense versus Crest’s zone, the margin grew to 35-17 by halftime. A 9-0 run to start the second half opened the floodgates.

“We’ve got some guys who can shoot it,” said Crest coach George Hall. “But we’ve got to get it to them. We’ve still got a long way to go with our offense. Sometimes we force it in there too much. Our defense is playing better than our offense right now.”

LAWNDALE – After a near miss Tuesday night against Shelby, many wondered if the Crest boys might have a bit of a letdown taking the floor Friday night in their next outing.

With the energy of a packed gym at Burns Friday night, that solved that question. The Chargers came out hot early and rolled to a 74-40 non-conference win over the host Bulldogs.

That made it a sweep following the Crest girls’ 65-37 romp in the opener.

Boys Game

Crest knocked in a few from long range against the Bulldogs’ zone defensive look and made it a 1-2 punch with quick passes to the inside for a few layups as well in building a 20-10 first-quarter lead.

With Burns struggling to find any consistent offense versus Crest’s zone, the margin grew to 35-17 by halftime. A 9-0 run to start the second half opened the floodgates.

“We’ve got some guys who can shoot it,” said Crest coach George Hall. “But we’ve got to get it to them. We’ve still got a long way to go with our offense. Sometimes we force it in there too much. Our defense is playing better than our offense right now.”

Crest was also able to score off the boards, getting 18 rebounds on its end of the court. That allowed players like Jerick Haynes (13 points), Chrishan Hartgrove (13) and Christian Creswell (12) to have big nights for the Chargers (1-1).

“I didn’t know before the season how we’d do rebounding but we have hit the boards well,” said Hall. “We still can get a lot better positioning but getting on the boards like we have really means a lot.”

Burns slipped to 0-3 on the season as it was unable to get much out of its halfcourt offense. Quintel Houser scored 12 points for Burns with Holden McSwain adding 11.

Burns and Crest will tangle Wednesday night on the Chargers’ home floor in a rematch, but first the Chargers have an Endowment Game at R-S Central on Tuesday.

Girls Game

The Crest girls got running early thanks to their pressing defense and gradually pulled away for a 38-17 halftime advantage.

The Lady Chargers (2-0) were led by A’Diyah Ussery with 18 points and Se’Dasia Love had 12, making up the slack with Caleia Jones not present.

Burns (0-3) got nine points by Breasha Carroll on a night when head coach Kathy Beam was missing in action due to illness.